Prognosis of CD-Associated Anorectal Cancer Studied

Patients with Crohn’s disease (CD)-associated colorectal cancer (CRC) had worse 5-year overall survival rates than those with sporadic CRC, a recent study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found. Based on the tumor location, anorectal cancer had worse 5-year overall survival and recurrence-free survival rates than sporadic anorectal cancer.

The team of Japanese researchers scoured a large nationwide database to identify patients with CD-CRC (n=233) and sporadic CRC (n=129,783) over a 40-year period, from 1980 to 2020. The groups were further divided based on the tumor location: colon cancer and anorectal cancer. The primary outcomes were 5-year overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and clinicopathological characteristics.

As compared to sporadic CRC, patients with CD-CRC were younger and more often had anorectal cancer, multiple lesions, and mucinous adenocarcinoma, and had a worse 5-year overall survival (53.99% versus 71.17%, P<0.001)

Further evaluating on tumor location, the investigators found that patients with CD-anorectal cancer had a worse 5-year overall survival compared to patients with sporadic anorectal cancer. Patients with CD-anorectal cancer also had 39.57% recurrence rate, and most of the recurrences were local.

“Optimal cancer surveillance for early detection and extended radical resection with preoperative chemoradiotherapy for local control are key to improving the prognosis of CD-CRC,” the authors advised.

Reference:
Ogino T, Mizushima T, Fujii M et al. Crohn's disease–associated anorectal cancer has a poor prognosis with high local recurrence: A subanalysis of the nationwide Japanese study. The American Journ of Gastroenterol. 2023: 118(9); 1626-1637. DOI: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000002269